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Chiou urges boycott of newspaper

"How can it betray the basic principles of news reporting in this way?"

Chiou I-jen, secretary general to the president

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) again condemned the United Daily News yesterday for allegedly serving as a mouthpiece for the pan-blue camp, saying that the public should not only censure such an unfair newspaper but also stop buying it.

"It is fair to say that the United Daily News is being completely unfair in its coverage of election news when it doesn't mention a word about concrete charges made by the DPP but makes a great thing out of unsubstantiated rumors made by the pan-blue camp," said Chiou I-jen (邱義仁), executive manager of the DPP's campaign headquarters.

"What kind of media self-regulation is this?" Chiou said.

Chiou, who is also secretary general to President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), said that the DPP is not concerned about what the newspaper chooses to publish but instead about the criteria on which it makes its decisions.

"How can it betray the basic principles of news reporting in this way?" Chiou asked.

On Thursday, DPP Legislator Lee Wen-chung (李文忠) provided evidence that he said supported a charge that NT$36,280,000 -- which has been the source of allegations of wrongdoing against former Pingtung County commissioner Wu Tse-yuan (伍澤元) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) -- constituted illicit funds, and was not a loan as the two have said.

On Wednesday and Thursday, DPP Legislator Tuan Yi-kang (段宜康) provided what he said was evidence that Lien's wife, Lien Fang Yu (連方瑀), had concealed assets owned by the family in the US and other countries.

The United Daily News did not cover these stories yesterday.

The material that Tuan pre-sented was a document signed by California's secretary of state purportedly showing that Lien Fang Yu holds a directorship in 1140 Galaxy Way Inc, and purportedly shows that documents, letters and telephone records released by KMT spokesperson Alex Tsai (蔡正元) are not legitimate.

"Yesterday all the TV stations asked Lien about this and he didn't dare respond, but the United Daily News can simply ignore all that and say nothing at all about the evidence produced by the DPP," Chiou said.

Chiou also said that People First Party Legislator Chou Hsi-wei (周錫瑋) made a reckless charge on Thursday, accusing first lady Wu Shu-chen (吳淑珍) of investing NT$170 billion in the stock market.

"Anybody with common sense knows that she couldn't possibly have invested NT$170 billion," he said.

"But the United Daily News nevertheless printed a two-page article on the matter in its Friday edition, turning mere rumor into a news report, without once seeking confirmation from either the presidential office or the DPP's campaign headquarters," Chiou said.

He said that these two episodes show that the paper has abandoned all media ethics and professionalism.

"This kind of reckless conduct causes anger and resentment," he said.

"Next magazine has reported many times that Lien's family has extensive assets overseas on which it has evaded its tax liabilities. But when the United Daily News mentions the Next stories it never says anything about Lien Fang Yu's 1140 directorship. Isn't that electoral bias?" Chiou said.

"The media are an integral element of democratic politics. They have to be self-governing, self-

regulating, but they also have to strictly observe media professionalism," he said.

"The United Daily News is neglecting to report some news, turning other news into advertisements and making itself into a pan-blue mouthpiece," he said.

"DPP headquarters will devise a slogan to stop the KMT and call on consumers not to spend money on this kind of mouthpiece, but rather to ditch the United Daily News," he said.

In response, the United Daily News issued a statement yesterday saying that its operating principle is to monitor developments in news events and determine whether or not the events present any new information.

"Both the Wu Shu-chen story and Lien Fang Yu story have been covered by our newspaper, and due to the limited news pages we have, we have to make choices about whether events represent new developments. These are normal procedures for news editing, please do not misunderstand," it said.
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